The Shroud spent some time looking over the artifact in the dank underground cavern. Quell using his linguistic talent, Wasyli relying on his knowledge of the planes.
In the end, the Shroud used a miracle to turn off & move the artifact safely from the site back to their island fortress.
Once there they spend more time analyzing it and discovered that among other things, it had the ability to summon and control otherworldly horrors. The possible combat implications intrigued the Shroud greatly.
The Shroud returned to the area of the Caer Bryr where the ruins of the Horn were to search the lair of the green dragon.
As they feared, their ally was no more, his lair now home to otherworldly horrors taking residence including hounds and spiders. The corpse of the young dragon wrapped tight in a massive web in one corner. Worse still, a large alpha hound was there with his pack.
As the fight broke out, the massive wrapped corpse started to ungulate and to the Shroud's collective horror, they realized it was chock full of swarms of baby spiders it belched out in massive clouds.
With a combination of magics & summoned monsters the Shroud kept back from the swarms of spiders until Yvainne rushed forward & plane shifted the baby spider nest back to the plane of Abaddon. Making it a problem for someone else, but no longer their issue.
The remaining spider & hounds proved difficult to fight, but still manageable. Relaying on blade, magic and their own bare fists in the case of Brother Summit, the horrors were no match for the prepared Shroud. And all fell before the villains.
With the otherworldly horror mostly resolved the Shroud turns itself to making the final preparations for their victory over Fire Axe & their conquest of the capital.
Their first stop is to talk to Fire Axe. Informing their ally of Thorn's demise & their coup of his organization go over better than expected. Honeyed words and promises of a future as a Shroud member keep Fire Axe on their side. The bugbear even provides an ideal ambush spot that's a few days ride still from his slow moving force. The Shroud agree and head there to prepare the site.
While preparing a spot for Yvainne to stay hidden but still functional during a daytime battle, Emmerick summons Tiadora & General Barca. Tiadora will be tasked with extraditing Fire Axe during the coming battle, but General Barca has a more important job. Emmerick wants advice on how to approach his claiming of the throne. And wants his new advisor to provide the advice.
After a long conversation, the Shroud & their general come to a decision. He will enter the capital & use his contacts to prepare the city for the new King's coming. While the Shroud will defeat the "savages" in combat. Allowing the new King to return, bloody & battered but victorious in combat. A savior of the people.
As the general leaves the mercenaries arrive. Their leader, Heir Essenmark greats the future king & they prepare for the battle.
Using the natural terrain to funnel the bugbear army into a choke point, Emmerick & his band will hold the breach with Yvainne already prepped, hidden close at hand in a stone-shaped cavern.
The bugbears arrived with after dawn and without realizing it, funneled themselves right into the trap. And then it was sprung. Archers, protected by light infantry and natural rock cliffs rained down arrows on the tightly packed brutes. Heavy Cavalry, combined with a well placed earthquake blocked their exit and their general, Fire-Axe disappears as a she-devil teleports in & out with him.
Wasyli uses sympathy to hold the regular bugbear in front of the choke point, unable to push through. But the large ogres & giants surged forward, unimpeded by the magic.
Emmerick, Quell & Summit brace for them, then Mardus began unleashing Earthquake after Earthquake while using quickened fireballs. Wasyli and Yvainne joined in to rain down their own divine & arcane magic. What followed was over a minute of non-stop screaming and wailing as bugbear, ogre and giant alike are blasted, melted & swallowed hole. Burnt and buried alive the sounds are horrifying.
Quell fires a couple arrows into the inferno, making little difference in the grand scope of carnage. Emmerick shakes his head in disgust and sheaths his sword as his fellow Shroud members destroy with ease the last remnants of the "grand" army of Fire Axe. There would be no glory here for the would-be King.
As the battle ends the mercenaries rush forward, killing the maimed & wounded bugbears still standing. But this was no mercy killing. This was a chance to pillage from the pillagers.
Emmerick rummaged through the field, matting his blade & armor in blood, to make it look like he did something other than stand there.
The rest of the Shroud looked out on the field of battle. Blood and gore chocked the river at the edge of the battlefield and mini-waterfalls of gore spill down into unknown depths exposed by the cracking of the ground. At the far end of the field cavalry obliterate what wolf-riders managed to escape the initial assault. After the dead pillagers were picked clean, their bodies were thrown on massive burn piles. The flames roaring over the occasional sounds of screams from underground.
With a quant field turned into the gory graveyard of the the army of Fire Axe. The Shroud moved on with their army to the final destination. The capital.
As Emmerick leads their army to the walls of the near by city they are greeted by an entourage of dignitaries from the city. Among them are two of the Shrouds allies, Wasyli's "Aunt" and General Barca.
The Mayor of Matheryn was the first to speak, greeting Emmerick, clearly unsure of the situation. He is quickly brushed aside by Count Leothyn Barca, the aging brother of the late Barcan King. The Count shares a knowing look with the General before giving a cunning smile to Emmerick. "It is good to see you nephew. Let us come into the city & rejoice at your victory."
The mayor looks even more confused but also relieved as the entourage joins with the Shroud at the head of the Army of Mercenaries and strides into the city.
Civilians poking their heads out of allies & windows. Most confused but some do let out some clapping or cheering at the new defenders of Matheryn.
And just like that Thorn's plan comes to fruition, as the forces of darkness seize the heart of the Kingdom of Talengarde.
A new golden age of Asmodeus is at hand.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Session 48
The Shroud argued about what to do with their political options.
Emmerick and Wasyli had no interest in bending a knee before the throne of Chiliax and they managed to get most of the remaining shroud members on board.
Quell still found it an unwise move and argued as much, but as it became clear Emmerick had won the majority, Quell relented & went along with the rest of the Shroud.
Galen was upset, but bowed before his new leaders. Though he did request to be extracted. He felt that perhaps he had overstayed his welcome and the Shroud agreed. They removed their agent & brought him back to the safety of Talengarde.
Shortly after moving forward & arranging the transport of their mercenary army they started using powerful divination magic to locate the Princess and the Sons of Balentyne. They found them all, at the capital of Andoran. The arch-rival of Chiliax.
Quell restrained himself from criticizing too hard, as the rest of the Shroud realized they just turned down the help of a major power, as their fellow claimant to the throne was doing that very thing.
Still, the Shroud had picked their course.
Using magic items & knowledge acquired from Galen & Thorn's notes, Wasyli proceeded with attempting to craft a phylactery and move down the path of transforming himself into a Lich like Galen.
With their primary source of arcane magic having only limited availability and a mercenary army still weeks out and there arch-rival in a location that might prove difficult to attack, Brother Summit pushed the Shroud to consider a loose end to follow up. The threat of the otherworldly creatures hunting them.
With a planer breach to the negative energy plane readily available in the Cathedral, the Shroud easily collected a few hounds and brought them to Professor Tiberius Feign. The wizard was surprised at the unexpected guests, but always eager to pursue his planer research, quickly found time for them in his underground laboratory.
The Shroud wanted to find the location of the thing that was sending creatures to them so the Professor gathered his collection of planer forks attuned to the various outer planes and performed a ritual with a special compass to point to the planer fork attuned to the plane the thing was on. The ritual commensed and the chamber was filled the wailing of a hound. Yet the compass didn't seem to settle on a planer fork. Then Brother Summit noticed it. The compass kept tracking the Professor. As he stated that, a look of horror filled the Professor's face, as he reached into his belt pouch & pulled out a planer fork attuned to the prime material plane.
The Professor quickly slit the throat the wailing hound and a dread-filled silence descended on the camber. Then the professor told the Shroud if they were to face the creature, they should do so quickly. And he left the camber, his assistants having to scramble to collect all the valuable planer forks the wizard had ignored in his haste to be rid of the place.
The Shroud thought back to the time they were near the Horn and saw signs of the creatures there.
Could this all have come when they called forth Vitra-Kali...
The Shroud prepared for an adventure, Wasyli was able to drop them off near the horn before returning to his creation.
The Shroud them moved toward the old green dragon's lair, were they'd seen signs of the creatures before. They prepared to fly to the areal entrance at top of the mound and stopped as they cleared the tree tops.
Further to the south, was an ever expanding pool of black liquid and at it's center, the ruins of the Horn. Everywhere the liquid went, fauna and wildlife died. A huge blight has spread out across the land for miles. It even got into the near-by river & travelled up & down stream, chocking out a massive lake near by & the bogland near the coast.
Brother Summit remembered his trip with Wasyli, were they saw a small pool of liquid in the ruins of the horn. What horror has befallen the land.
Steeling themselves, they leave the green dragon lair and head to the source of it all. The Horn.
They arrive and see slowly moving black liquid oozing out from the foundation. With an overabundance of caution, the Shroud advance into the familiar yet distinctly different underground of the Horn.
The mouth of the caves was chocked with rubble from above, hunks of stone & earth filled in most of the cracks between the stalactites & stalagmites, leaving just a small passageway in. Around the side a river of black liquid goo oozes underneath.
The Shroud move on into the interior, having to avoid rubble and black goo.
Within they found a further altered interior from their last visit. Walls broken down, or caverns chocked with rubble. Yet no sign of spiders or hounds. Just more black ooze.
Eventually they found the likely source, it appeared to be coming from the mud room they used to conjure mud elementals. Yet they couldn't reach it as the main passage was a river of black goo and the only walkable surface was a ledge on the far side.
Yvainne shaped from the stone walls a buttressed bridge with a lip to protect from the goo below. As the bridge finished being shaped, screeching wails came from down the passage in the mud room.
As the Shroud advanced via a combination of arial magic & the stone bridge, they found two creatures of ungulating flesh, a massive blob of eyes, mouths & other organs. Oozes of flesh splashing in the black goo.
And they advanced, letting a wail loose as they went.
Mardus and Quell both quickly go mad from the screeching, as Emmerick & Brother Summit push forward, overcoming it. And Yvainne's undead mind ignores the wails as her undead frame likewise ignores the black goo as she wades through it in front of her companions.
Quell in his madness flails at Mardus this in turn brings the focus of the equally confused Mardus to turn on Quell & savage into him.
Realizing the two would rip each other apart in their madness, Yvainne had to return & heal Mardus who then healed Quell and stopped the madness induced cycle of in-fighting.
Still the horrors advanced, one taking particular interest in Brother Summit. And the shroud paused, unsure if they could handle the fight or if they should flee with what shreds of sanity they retained.
But then the Anti-paladin of Hell stood forward and cast fear on one of the abominations. Even it's alien mind reeled in terror and the creature fled from the beacon of hell, deep down into the goo.
The shroud got a second wind & pushed forward, their doubts starting to wain. Then Quell finally made his way to the bridge and finally seeing the horror, he fled again, his mind unable to handle it. Meanwhile, Brother Summit, stuck with one of the horrors on his own was forced to withdrawl for some healing from his companions.
Seeing their second wind vanishing, Emmerick & Yvainne surged forward to fill the void meeting the attacks of the otherworldly creature with blade and fang. And as Brother Summit & Mardus recovered, the four Shroud members even without their rogue or wizard, managed to hack, slash, burn and bite the creature.
Against even the limited might of just part of the Shroud, the creature was ripped into ribbons.
It's mate eventually emerged in a rage as the fear had subsided but weakened and without it's companion, the prepared Shroud destroyed it too.
As quite returned to the caverns, the Shroud looked where the creatures had been. There, beyond where the mud pool had been, in the alcove were the old broken chest used to be, were massive stone tablets & some sort of pool, that appeared to be the source of all the ooze that was invading the plane.
Investigation revealed the tablets to be some sort of otherworldly artifact that was generating the black liquid substance.
The Shroud stood before the artifact, unsure of what comes next.
Emmerick and Wasyli had no interest in bending a knee before the throne of Chiliax and they managed to get most of the remaining shroud members on board.
Quell still found it an unwise move and argued as much, but as it became clear Emmerick had won the majority, Quell relented & went along with the rest of the Shroud.
Galen was upset, but bowed before his new leaders. Though he did request to be extracted. He felt that perhaps he had overstayed his welcome and the Shroud agreed. They removed their agent & brought him back to the safety of Talengarde.
Shortly after moving forward & arranging the transport of their mercenary army they started using powerful divination magic to locate the Princess and the Sons of Balentyne. They found them all, at the capital of Andoran. The arch-rival of Chiliax.
Quell restrained himself from criticizing too hard, as the rest of the Shroud realized they just turned down the help of a major power, as their fellow claimant to the throne was doing that very thing.
Still, the Shroud had picked their course.
Using magic items & knowledge acquired from Galen & Thorn's notes, Wasyli proceeded with attempting to craft a phylactery and move down the path of transforming himself into a Lich like Galen.
With their primary source of arcane magic having only limited availability and a mercenary army still weeks out and there arch-rival in a location that might prove difficult to attack, Brother Summit pushed the Shroud to consider a loose end to follow up. The threat of the otherworldly creatures hunting them.
With a planer breach to the negative energy plane readily available in the Cathedral, the Shroud easily collected a few hounds and brought them to Professor Tiberius Feign. The wizard was surprised at the unexpected guests, but always eager to pursue his planer research, quickly found time for them in his underground laboratory.
The Shroud wanted to find the location of the thing that was sending creatures to them so the Professor gathered his collection of planer forks attuned to the various outer planes and performed a ritual with a special compass to point to the planer fork attuned to the plane the thing was on. The ritual commensed and the chamber was filled the wailing of a hound. Yet the compass didn't seem to settle on a planer fork. Then Brother Summit noticed it. The compass kept tracking the Professor. As he stated that, a look of horror filled the Professor's face, as he reached into his belt pouch & pulled out a planer fork attuned to the prime material plane.
The Professor quickly slit the throat the wailing hound and a dread-filled silence descended on the camber. Then the professor told the Shroud if they were to face the creature, they should do so quickly. And he left the camber, his assistants having to scramble to collect all the valuable planer forks the wizard had ignored in his haste to be rid of the place.
The Shroud thought back to the time they were near the Horn and saw signs of the creatures there.
Could this all have come when they called forth Vitra-Kali...
The Shroud prepared for an adventure, Wasyli was able to drop them off near the horn before returning to his creation.
The Shroud them moved toward the old green dragon's lair, were they'd seen signs of the creatures before. They prepared to fly to the areal entrance at top of the mound and stopped as they cleared the tree tops.
Further to the south, was an ever expanding pool of black liquid and at it's center, the ruins of the Horn. Everywhere the liquid went, fauna and wildlife died. A huge blight has spread out across the land for miles. It even got into the near-by river & travelled up & down stream, chocking out a massive lake near by & the bogland near the coast.
Brother Summit remembered his trip with Wasyli, were they saw a small pool of liquid in the ruins of the horn. What horror has befallen the land.
Steeling themselves, they leave the green dragon lair and head to the source of it all. The Horn.
They arrive and see slowly moving black liquid oozing out from the foundation. With an overabundance of caution, the Shroud advance into the familiar yet distinctly different underground of the Horn.
The mouth of the caves was chocked with rubble from above, hunks of stone & earth filled in most of the cracks between the stalactites & stalagmites, leaving just a small passageway in. Around the side a river of black liquid goo oozes underneath.
The Shroud move on into the interior, having to avoid rubble and black goo.
Within they found a further altered interior from their last visit. Walls broken down, or caverns chocked with rubble. Yet no sign of spiders or hounds. Just more black ooze.
Eventually they found the likely source, it appeared to be coming from the mud room they used to conjure mud elementals. Yet they couldn't reach it as the main passage was a river of black goo and the only walkable surface was a ledge on the far side.
Yvainne shaped from the stone walls a buttressed bridge with a lip to protect from the goo below. As the bridge finished being shaped, screeching wails came from down the passage in the mud room.
As the Shroud advanced via a combination of arial magic & the stone bridge, they found two creatures of ungulating flesh, a massive blob of eyes, mouths & other organs. Oozes of flesh splashing in the black goo.
And they advanced, letting a wail loose as they went.
Mardus and Quell both quickly go mad from the screeching, as Emmerick & Brother Summit push forward, overcoming it. And Yvainne's undead mind ignores the wails as her undead frame likewise ignores the black goo as she wades through it in front of her companions.
Quell in his madness flails at Mardus this in turn brings the focus of the equally confused Mardus to turn on Quell & savage into him.
Realizing the two would rip each other apart in their madness, Yvainne had to return & heal Mardus who then healed Quell and stopped the madness induced cycle of in-fighting.
Still the horrors advanced, one taking particular interest in Brother Summit. And the shroud paused, unsure if they could handle the fight or if they should flee with what shreds of sanity they retained.
But then the Anti-paladin of Hell stood forward and cast fear on one of the abominations. Even it's alien mind reeled in terror and the creature fled from the beacon of hell, deep down into the goo.
The shroud got a second wind & pushed forward, their doubts starting to wain. Then Quell finally made his way to the bridge and finally seeing the horror, he fled again, his mind unable to handle it. Meanwhile, Brother Summit, stuck with one of the horrors on his own was forced to withdrawl for some healing from his companions.
Seeing their second wind vanishing, Emmerick & Yvainne surged forward to fill the void meeting the attacks of the otherworldly creature with blade and fang. And as Brother Summit & Mardus recovered, the four Shroud members even without their rogue or wizard, managed to hack, slash, burn and bite the creature.
Against even the limited might of just part of the Shroud, the creature was ripped into ribbons.
It's mate eventually emerged in a rage as the fear had subsided but weakened and without it's companion, the prepared Shroud destroyed it too.
As quite returned to the caverns, the Shroud looked where the creatures had been. There, beyond where the mud pool had been, in the alcove were the old broken chest used to be, were massive stone tablets & some sort of pool, that appeared to be the source of all the ooze that was invading the plane.
Investigation revealed the tablets to be some sort of otherworldly artifact that was generating the black liquid substance.
The Shroud stood before the artifact, unsure of what comes next.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Session 47
The Knot bursts out into the hallway unleashing an assault on the undead dragons.
Steel and fang clash as arcane magic rains down and infernal hell fire fills the hallway.
Quell takes the brought of one of the dragon's assaults, the stone skin from Wasyli from before the fight with Thorn gets all used up, but the elven rogue survives. All be it with an emergency heal from Mardus.
Wasyli isolates the two dragons with a wall of force only to have Brother Summit shrug and teleport past it & solo one of the dragons himself.
Yvainne does try at one point to get the dragons to surrender, but her desire to make the Ninth their new master doesn't seem to go over too well.
The Knot resigns to utterly destroying the dragons and proceed to do just that.
Brother Summit mercilessly grinding his dragon into bone dust while the other one is overwhelmed by the blades of Quell and Emmerick.
The following morning the Knot meet with the wizard Ben and learn about the grave knights & the magic of the fortress. Yvainne attunes herself to the key to the fortress and they wait as the grave knights raise & they take control of them.
The fortress of Thorn is finally completely under the control of the Knot.
Calling her by her true name, the handmaiden of hell knew who her new masters would be. She begrudgingly signed a contract binding her to the service of the Knot. But she did insist on a rider that allowed her to ignore the orders of Yvainne until they were confirmed by a true worshipper of hell.
Her opinion of the death priestess was clear. The devil didn't trust her.
Having Thorn's former lieutenant under their grip, the Knot decided to abolish the idea of Knots. That was Thorn's order. And that order was dead. No. They supported a shroud and so now there would be Veils. And they would be the greatest Veil of all.
With Thorn's personal journal in hand and his lieutenant subservient to them. The Veil moved forward with their slain master's plan.
Their attention turned toward the former 6th Knot, with their former ally, Galen. They were supposed to have an army. The army of the new King would come and save the Kingdom from the bugbears.
It would seem the Veil had two armies to choose from.
Steel and fang clash as arcane magic rains down and infernal hell fire fills the hallway.
Quell takes the brought of one of the dragon's assaults, the stone skin from Wasyli from before the fight with Thorn gets all used up, but the elven rogue survives. All be it with an emergency heal from Mardus.
Wasyli isolates the two dragons with a wall of force only to have Brother Summit shrug and teleport past it & solo one of the dragons himself.
Yvainne does try at one point to get the dragons to surrender, but her desire to make the Ninth their new master doesn't seem to go over too well.
The Knot resigns to utterly destroying the dragons and proceed to do just that.
Brother Summit mercilessly grinding his dragon into bone dust while the other one is overwhelmed by the blades of Quell and Emmerick.
The following morning the Knot meet with the wizard Ben and learn about the grave knights & the magic of the fortress. Yvainne attunes herself to the key to the fortress and they wait as the grave knights raise & they take control of them.
The fortress of Thorn is finally completely under the control of the Knot.
Though, despite Yvainne's eager desire to bath herself in the negative energy of the odd magical devise, Quell brought up that none of them, save maybe Brother Summit should go near the planer breach. There was a collective groan as they remembered the taint they all carried with them. And one small part of their new fortress most of them would need to avoid.
The Knot left a token force to guard the fortress along with the newly raised graveknights and returned to their island to speak to their old acquaintance, Tiadora.
Calling her by her true name, the handmaiden of hell knew who her new masters would be. She begrudgingly signed a contract binding her to the service of the Knot. But she did insist on a rider that allowed her to ignore the orders of Yvainne until they were confirmed by a true worshipper of hell.
Her opinion of the death priestess was clear. The devil didn't trust her.
Having Thorn's former lieutenant under their grip, the Knot decided to abolish the idea of Knots. That was Thorn's order. And that order was dead. No. They supported a shroud and so now there would be Veils. And they would be the greatest Veil of all.
With Thorn's personal journal in hand and his lieutenant subservient to them. The Veil moved forward with their slain master's plan.
Their attention turned toward the former 6th Knot, with their former ally, Galen. They were supposed to have an army. The army of the new King would come and save the Kingdom from the bugbears.
Tiadora, with Lord Vastenus Barca former general of the king's army, went to see what the 6th Knot had assembled. They found the leader of the 6th knot in Riddleport, with a band of cutthroats and brigands as well as a formidable mercenary army.
Yet there was no sign of Galen. The leader of the 6th knot didn't know where the Lich wizard went.
Using divination & teleportation magic, the Veil arrived to speak with Galen, Tiadora in tow.
They found Galen living in the lap of luxury, negotiating with a group called the Queen's Hand, advisors to Abrogail Thrune II, Queen of Cheliax. Talengarde would have a powerful professional army to defend them, and all they needed to do was bend a knee to the Throne of Cheliax.
It would seem the Veil had two armies to choose from.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Session 46
Thorn begins a long diatribe about how he brought in the Knot & raised them, and this is the thanks he gets when Mardus interrupts him. "Thorn, you're in my chair"
"You what it? Then come and take it."
Battle was joined.
Thorn is quick to use timestop and bring in an Ice Devil in the midsts of the Knot. Along with a host of defensive spell effects.
The barbed devils try to hold as many of the Knot as possible, but are much less successful now that the Knot is buffed up & ready for a fight.
They even use illusions to bring in a horned devil, but this time, the Knot sees right through it and ignore the illusionary construct.
Instead they focused there combined rage on the Ice Devil in amongst them and had destroyed the summoned creature in a matter of seconds. Under a relentless barrage of attacks.
Wasyli did manage to get off a dimensional anchor to keep Thorn from fleeing, which got a cackle from the Lich Priest. "You think I'd ever flee!"
Thorn responded by unloaded orbs of negative energy & used channelling to pull negative energy from the very floors and walls, bursting it all over the Ninth Knot, who's well prep'ed death ward spell left them immune to the effects. Well, aside from Yvainne. The vampire priestess of death jumped into the sphere of negative energy & basked in the extra health it offered her.
Still, the Priest of Hell had some power not tied to the negative energy plane. And he showed it by directing an implosion spell on Quell & crumpling the elf into a dead ball.
The Knot stood stunned for a second before they rushed into action.
Emmerick provided a wall to keep off the barbed devils while Mardus & Yvainne rushed to the side of their fallen comrade. Two breath of lifes and one heal later and their elf rogue was brought back from death and able to carry on the fight.
Meanwhile Brother Summit rushed forward to break the concentration of Thorn only to run into some kind of barrier blocking him.
A quick check from Wasyli deduced it was likely a anti-life shell or some other effect. Regardless, he blew away the magic with a particularly powerful dispel magic.
And Implosion was directed at Brother Summit but the Monk shrugged it off before rushing in and clobbering the Lich, disrupting his concentration.
Thorn desperately tried to fend off the Monk, only to have him ignore all the powerful magics the Priest could hurl at him while all around Devils were falling.
With the ranks of Devils reduced & Quell back up Emmerick was able to stop playing guardian and be the killer he was, charging forward with Helbrand in hand. His recently restored elf companion following along behind.
As the Knot swarmed Thorn, Yvainne looked at all the Devils surrounding her & laughed with joy before unleashing a wail of the banshee and destroying most of the remaining Devils in one swift stroke.
Thorn stood his ground, not fleeing but fighting to the death. And that is just what he got when Emmerick, wielding Helbrand and infused with his anti-paladin power as a vorpal weapon, swung the blade around and took clean off the Lich's head.
The future King of Talengarde would be no puppet anymore.
Yvainne quickly pulled out Thorns phylactery. The vampire grinned as she bit down into the withered pulsing heart. The wicked iron barbs poking into her mouth as her blood mixed with Thorns. She feasted on a Lich that night.
As Yvainne dropped the drained, shriveled husk on the ground a rumble could be felt from high above and a voice whispered in the ears of the followers of hell. "Come my children".
The Knot left the throne room & walked past that curious ornate door before going outside. There, the sky turned blood red, then it started to rain. Blood. As infernal shapes danced in the sky, singing in infernal. And that same curious voice spoke softly in the ears of the followers of Hell among the Ninth. Whispering to them all the times the righteous or faithful faltered or failed to act it was the corrupting influence of Hell. That the Ninth Knot as been secretly helped along the way to reach this moment. For now, the Devil is thy only Master.
Emmerick, Mardus and Wasyli stood enthralled with the glory of their faith. Even Quell & Brother Summit felt blessed.
While Yvainne stood in the corner. The death priest's eyes shining in the dark. Disliking even the taste of the blood falling. Finding it too... infernal.
The Knot returned back to the secret throne room, once again passing the curious ornate door.
Back inside the Knot does an exhaustive search of the secret inner sanctum.
Along with finding Tiadora's true name, Thorns personal diaries and a bunch of seals for communicating with other knots, they find the great treasure room of Thorn.
Among the treasures was their former Knot member, Galen's phylactery. But the greatest treasure is an odd looking ring of great power. The Knot catalogs it & moves on. They do note, in the great battle with Thorn, the Lich Priest did not use the ring. Which gives the Knot pause.
As the Knot nearly finish the rounds searching through the inner sanctum they here a rumble & roar fill the underground complex, followed by a crackle of electricity.
The Knot rushed to the secret entrance of the inner sanctum, Mardus used his Fire Oracle power to see through the torches in the hallway beyond. And there he saw the ornate door broken on one hinge and a massive undead dragon bursting forth.
The Knot paused. "Perhaps we should just let it leave" someone says. Another observes it might kill the traitor general, which brought some mild desire to intervene. Then someone else pointed out "Oh what about Ben & his wife?" That statement brought the Knot into action. They quickly rushed for the door to burst out on the undead dragons.
It seems at least one trap of the Cardinal would still annoy the Knot.
"You what it? Then come and take it."
Battle was joined.
Thorn is quick to use timestop and bring in an Ice Devil in the midsts of the Knot. Along with a host of defensive spell effects.
The barbed devils try to hold as many of the Knot as possible, but are much less successful now that the Knot is buffed up & ready for a fight.
They even use illusions to bring in a horned devil, but this time, the Knot sees right through it and ignore the illusionary construct.
Instead they focused there combined rage on the Ice Devil in amongst them and had destroyed the summoned creature in a matter of seconds. Under a relentless barrage of attacks.
Wasyli did manage to get off a dimensional anchor to keep Thorn from fleeing, which got a cackle from the Lich Priest. "You think I'd ever flee!"
Thorn responded by unloaded orbs of negative energy & used channelling to pull negative energy from the very floors and walls, bursting it all over the Ninth Knot, who's well prep'ed death ward spell left them immune to the effects. Well, aside from Yvainne. The vampire priestess of death jumped into the sphere of negative energy & basked in the extra health it offered her.
Still, the Priest of Hell had some power not tied to the negative energy plane. And he showed it by directing an implosion spell on Quell & crumpling the elf into a dead ball.
The Knot stood stunned for a second before they rushed into action.
Emmerick provided a wall to keep off the barbed devils while Mardus & Yvainne rushed to the side of their fallen comrade. Two breath of lifes and one heal later and their elf rogue was brought back from death and able to carry on the fight.
Meanwhile Brother Summit rushed forward to break the concentration of Thorn only to run into some kind of barrier blocking him.
A quick check from Wasyli deduced it was likely a anti-life shell or some other effect. Regardless, he blew away the magic with a particularly powerful dispel magic.
And Implosion was directed at Brother Summit but the Monk shrugged it off before rushing in and clobbering the Lich, disrupting his concentration.
Thorn desperately tried to fend off the Monk, only to have him ignore all the powerful magics the Priest could hurl at him while all around Devils were falling.
With the ranks of Devils reduced & Quell back up Emmerick was able to stop playing guardian and be the killer he was, charging forward with Helbrand in hand. His recently restored elf companion following along behind.
As the Knot swarmed Thorn, Yvainne looked at all the Devils surrounding her & laughed with joy before unleashing a wail of the banshee and destroying most of the remaining Devils in one swift stroke.
Thorn stood his ground, not fleeing but fighting to the death. And that is just what he got when Emmerick, wielding Helbrand and infused with his anti-paladin power as a vorpal weapon, swung the blade around and took clean off the Lich's head.
The future King of Talengarde would be no puppet anymore.
Yvainne quickly pulled out Thorns phylactery. The vampire grinned as she bit down into the withered pulsing heart. The wicked iron barbs poking into her mouth as her blood mixed with Thorns. She feasted on a Lich that night.
As Yvainne dropped the drained, shriveled husk on the ground a rumble could be felt from high above and a voice whispered in the ears of the followers of hell. "Come my children".
The Knot left the throne room & walked past that curious ornate door before going outside. There, the sky turned blood red, then it started to rain. Blood. As infernal shapes danced in the sky, singing in infernal. And that same curious voice spoke softly in the ears of the followers of Hell among the Ninth. Whispering to them all the times the righteous or faithful faltered or failed to act it was the corrupting influence of Hell. That the Ninth Knot as been secretly helped along the way to reach this moment. For now, the Devil is thy only Master.
Emmerick, Mardus and Wasyli stood enthralled with the glory of their faith. Even Quell & Brother Summit felt blessed.
While Yvainne stood in the corner. The death priest's eyes shining in the dark. Disliking even the taste of the blood falling. Finding it too... infernal.
The Knot returned back to the secret throne room, once again passing the curious ornate door.
Back inside the Knot does an exhaustive search of the secret inner sanctum.
Along with finding Tiadora's true name, Thorns personal diaries and a bunch of seals for communicating with other knots, they find the great treasure room of Thorn.
Among the treasures was their former Knot member, Galen's phylactery. But the greatest treasure is an odd looking ring of great power. The Knot catalogs it & moves on. They do note, in the great battle with Thorn, the Lich Priest did not use the ring. Which gives the Knot pause.
As the Knot nearly finish the rounds searching through the inner sanctum they here a rumble & roar fill the underground complex, followed by a crackle of electricity.
The Knot rushed to the secret entrance of the inner sanctum, Mardus used his Fire Oracle power to see through the torches in the hallway beyond. And there he saw the ornate door broken on one hinge and a massive undead dragon bursting forth.
The Knot paused. "Perhaps we should just let it leave" someone says. Another observes it might kill the traitor general, which brought some mild desire to intervene. Then someone else pointed out "Oh what about Ben & his wife?" That statement brought the Knot into action. They quickly rushed for the door to burst out on the undead dragons.
It seems at least one trap of the Cardinal would still annoy the Knot.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Session 45
The Knot decide to send Quell forward to sneak near the guard house full of grave-knights and try to reach the guest rooms where the necromancer Ben was rumored to be staying.
Quell got close to the guest rooms only to be spotted by one of the undead guards.
The elf cursed under this breath before beating a path back toward the prison with guards chasing after.
Emmerick, Brother Summit, Mardus & Yvainne readied for the coming onslaught while Wasyli rushed off to double back & use a wall of force to block the guards from alerting the rest of the compound.
As Wasyli was off blocking off the rear guards, the front guards encountered the forward might of the Ninth and they were brought low as blade and magic flared as the first few grave-knights fell. In a move that Yvainne had mixed fillings about after, she enchanted Quell's blade with the destruction effect, causing one of the blows from the elf to permanently destroy one of the grave-knights.
Then the rest of the grave-knights, unable to breach the wall of force turned & slammed into the line of the Ninth. The undead warriors managed to cause some damage to the front line. Mardus found himself surrounded unable to fall back. Then Brother Summit rushed forward shooting "Protect the High Priest!" and with fist and boot broke through the knights and scattering them so Mardus could retreat to relative safety.
By the time Wasyli managed to return, he found over half the guards destroyed and a wounded Mardus recovering. The sorcerer didn't even bother casting his powerful spells, instead using minor spells to pick off a few more guards as Quell, Emmerick & Summit ground the remaining knights into the ground, claiming the guard house for the Ninth.
Wasting no time, the Ninth rush to the guest rooms looking for Ben and they find the necromancer poking his head out of a room trying to figure out what the commotion was. With a nightcap on and a small candle in hand, the powerful wizard didn't cut a particularly striking figure.
The Knot quickly explained the disturbance as simply a change in management and nothing he should worry about. The initial conversation goes well, as Ben seems quite indifferent to their coup attempt against their former master.
Then Yvainne asked about if his wife is around, and about the location of Vincent. And Ben explains, with mild hesitation that yes, his wife is in his room with him and that no, Vincent is not around. Further queries have Ben push back that it's late & that he'd like to get back to his room.
Yvainne again mentions his wife & he gives an angry look, much to Yvainne's surprise.
He again mentions his desire to retire for the rest of the night and that he could be found in the morning in his lab and he has no more time for questions.
Quell starts to push for more questions now and some curt words are traded between the rogue & wizard before Mardus jumps in and defuses the situation. After a couple more brief questions, the Ninth let Ben return to his chamber as they resume their coup attempt.
With their intel, the Ninth prepare their next move. Quell goes for another scouting mission, this time aided by invisibility from Wasyli and silence from Yvainne. They find another gap in their intel, some new door on a hallway that has the heraldry of Thorn, including two grave-knights in livery.
The Knot set up an elaborate ambush, using a combination of silence, wall of force and a healthy dose of brute strength to strike. They assault the guards on the odd ornate door and other guards down the hall guarding the presumed personal chambers of the head of the Second Knot.
They're nearly perfect with Quell & Mardus savaging the two grave-knights in heraldry, but Emmerick & Brother Summit prove unable to contain there two guards before they alert their commander.
Marcel Wolfram, Lord of the Second Knot and Anti-paladin of Hell steps forward and engages with Emmerick. The two anti-paladins savage each other as all around grave-knights are reduced to hucks of armor.
Then Yvainne, wielding powerful enchantments, forces Wolfram to temporarily treat the Ninth as his friends. Eager to see if they could salvage the Second they question it's Lord to see if anything could be done. After a few questions it becomes clear, Wolfram's loyalty to Thorn is unwavering and unquestioning. It would be exceedingly difficult to salvage this servant of hell.
So they decide to not bother. Mardus tries to trick the Lord of the Second Knot into taking some Fire Seeds as "gifts" but as it turns out Thorn's anti-paladin knows more about spells than the Ninth's does, as Mardus' trick doesn't work and Wolfram, free of the spell lashes out. But it doesn't matter. Emmerick staggers from a blow from his rival, and Mardus detonates the Holly Bombs, engulfing the Lord of the Second Knot in the fires of Hell. As the fire leaves, it is clear the new High Priest of Asmodeus has sent the top lieutenant of his rival back to Hell.
The Knot finds the secret door the dead fur-trapper mentioned and they ignore the other rooms around. Their target is Thorn.
Quell spots a difficult to stop trap on the secret door but is able to disarm it and the Knot moves into the secret inner sanctum of the former High Priest.
The Knot find a few side rooms but they remember the words of the fur trapper & move up to the door at the end of the hall. There the Ninth huddle and prepare for the fight they've been waiting for for over a year. Emmerick eagerly gripping his mace.
The Knot cloak themselves in as much protective magic as they can muster and they burst into the secret throne room of Cardinal Thorn.
There they find their target. The Lich Priest of Asmodeus, along with a half-dozen barbed devils.
The battle for the Knot of Thorns commences.
Quell got close to the guest rooms only to be spotted by one of the undead guards.
The elf cursed under this breath before beating a path back toward the prison with guards chasing after.
Emmerick, Brother Summit, Mardus & Yvainne readied for the coming onslaught while Wasyli rushed off to double back & use a wall of force to block the guards from alerting the rest of the compound.
As Wasyli was off blocking off the rear guards, the front guards encountered the forward might of the Ninth and they were brought low as blade and magic flared as the first few grave-knights fell. In a move that Yvainne had mixed fillings about after, she enchanted Quell's blade with the destruction effect, causing one of the blows from the elf to permanently destroy one of the grave-knights.
Then the rest of the grave-knights, unable to breach the wall of force turned & slammed into the line of the Ninth. The undead warriors managed to cause some damage to the front line. Mardus found himself surrounded unable to fall back. Then Brother Summit rushed forward shooting "Protect the High Priest!" and with fist and boot broke through the knights and scattering them so Mardus could retreat to relative safety.
By the time Wasyli managed to return, he found over half the guards destroyed and a wounded Mardus recovering. The sorcerer didn't even bother casting his powerful spells, instead using minor spells to pick off a few more guards as Quell, Emmerick & Summit ground the remaining knights into the ground, claiming the guard house for the Ninth.
Wasting no time, the Ninth rush to the guest rooms looking for Ben and they find the necromancer poking his head out of a room trying to figure out what the commotion was. With a nightcap on and a small candle in hand, the powerful wizard didn't cut a particularly striking figure.
The Knot quickly explained the disturbance as simply a change in management and nothing he should worry about. The initial conversation goes well, as Ben seems quite indifferent to their coup attempt against their former master.
Then Yvainne asked about if his wife is around, and about the location of Vincent. And Ben explains, with mild hesitation that yes, his wife is in his room with him and that no, Vincent is not around. Further queries have Ben push back that it's late & that he'd like to get back to his room.
Yvainne again mentions his wife & he gives an angry look, much to Yvainne's surprise.
He again mentions his desire to retire for the rest of the night and that he could be found in the morning in his lab and he has no more time for questions.
Quell starts to push for more questions now and some curt words are traded between the rogue & wizard before Mardus jumps in and defuses the situation. After a couple more brief questions, the Ninth let Ben return to his chamber as they resume their coup attempt.
With their intel, the Ninth prepare their next move. Quell goes for another scouting mission, this time aided by invisibility from Wasyli and silence from Yvainne. They find another gap in their intel, some new door on a hallway that has the heraldry of Thorn, including two grave-knights in livery.
The Knot set up an elaborate ambush, using a combination of silence, wall of force and a healthy dose of brute strength to strike. They assault the guards on the odd ornate door and other guards down the hall guarding the presumed personal chambers of the head of the Second Knot.
They're nearly perfect with Quell & Mardus savaging the two grave-knights in heraldry, but Emmerick & Brother Summit prove unable to contain there two guards before they alert their commander.
Marcel Wolfram, Lord of the Second Knot and Anti-paladin of Hell steps forward and engages with Emmerick. The two anti-paladins savage each other as all around grave-knights are reduced to hucks of armor.
Then Yvainne, wielding powerful enchantments, forces Wolfram to temporarily treat the Ninth as his friends. Eager to see if they could salvage the Second they question it's Lord to see if anything could be done. After a few questions it becomes clear, Wolfram's loyalty to Thorn is unwavering and unquestioning. It would be exceedingly difficult to salvage this servant of hell.
So they decide to not bother. Mardus tries to trick the Lord of the Second Knot into taking some Fire Seeds as "gifts" but as it turns out Thorn's anti-paladin knows more about spells than the Ninth's does, as Mardus' trick doesn't work and Wolfram, free of the spell lashes out. But it doesn't matter. Emmerick staggers from a blow from his rival, and Mardus detonates the Holly Bombs, engulfing the Lord of the Second Knot in the fires of Hell. As the fire leaves, it is clear the new High Priest of Asmodeus has sent the top lieutenant of his rival back to Hell.
The Knot finds the secret door the dead fur-trapper mentioned and they ignore the other rooms around. Their target is Thorn.
Quell spots a difficult to stop trap on the secret door but is able to disarm it and the Knot moves into the secret inner sanctum of the former High Priest.
The Knot find a few side rooms but they remember the words of the fur trapper & move up to the door at the end of the hall. There the Ninth huddle and prepare for the fight they've been waiting for for over a year. Emmerick eagerly gripping his mace.
The Knot cloak themselves in as much protective magic as they can muster and they burst into the secret throne room of Cardinal Thorn.
There they find their target. The Lich Priest of Asmodeus, along with a half-dozen barbed devils.
The battle for the Knot of Thorns commences.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Session 44
The Ninth faced their enemies both in front and behind.
The Frost Giants moved in only to find themselves having to fight fire, and gravity reversing on them. Even the massive King had to grab hold of a pillar to not fly forty feet up and wobble, suspended in thin air.
With the stall tactics on the Frost Giants working, the Knot focused on the interloper astro-daemon. The creatures shifting form made it difficult for the Knot to target it, but still they unloaded on it with all they had to bear. Emmerick taking point with Yvainne backing him up. And others raining ranged attacked down on it.
Still, it wasn't enough. Then the King rushed forward. Forced to leap out of the reverse gravity field, he was unable to bring one target down with his full destructive might. Instead he made a massive cleaving attack. Emmerick staggered under it but instead of targeting Yvianne next, the astro-daemon was attacked. The King stopped in confusion as his blow went through thin air. The displacement of the creature saved it. And as the King stood confused, it in turn saved Yvianne from a blow she was sure to regret.
Emmerick & Yvianne stood in the breach, all the while the other ice giant guards fell under the blade and fist of Quell and Brother Summit.
In another round of blows the astro-daemon fell and the Knot turned back to their original target. Quell and Brother Summit got in their licks but it was Emmerick who showed the King of Frost Giants who was to be King of all of Talengarde.
Gripping his adamantine mace he hit one knee cap of the King causing the brute to stagger, then he swung around and hit the other knee, a sickening crunch resounded as the Giant fell to his knees. Quell managing to get in a outflank sneak-attack and as the King fell forward, the Anti-paladin twirled the mace back and leaping into the air he brought it down over the head of the giant. The massive mithril crown of the King of Frost Giants crunched under the blow, along with the tissue and skull underneath it.
There would be only one King in Talengarde.
Then, stepping out from a cloistered area further in the Cathedral was the Queen of the Frost Giants. With a low bow, the towering beauty introduced herself. It was clear a deal could be made with her and so the would-be King of Talengarde and his less than marry band, dealt.
After securing a blood oath from the Knot that the Queen would bend a knee to the Crown but retain all her lands and sit on the new King's counsel, she told the Knot everything she knew about the fortress they were in.
The Knot cataloged the extra intel and bid the Queen leave. Before she left, she healed up the Knot & buffed them for the dangers below. As she walked out, she scooped up the Mithril helm of her late King and exited the cathedral.
After she left, Emmerick heard a familiar voice in his head. His sword spoke to him. He listened.
Mardus & Wasyli were still studying the massive alter they just swore on. They were sure it was powerful, but unsure of how it worked. Then Emmerick strode up without a beat drawing the blade, gripping his bare hand and sliced. Mardus & Wasyli stood dumbfounded as Emmerick's blood dripped of the blade into the bowl on the alter. The blade shone brightly, the magic of blade and alter fused. And Emmerick smiled. And knew, if he spoke, the Prince of Hell would here. He had but to wish to commune with his dark god and it would be so.
Armed with their intel, the Knot send Quell in to scout an area expected to be lightly guarded & their intel pans out.
The elf is able to explore a section of the compound undisturbed. He spotted a large guard barrack and avoided it. The Knot's hope was to find the necromancer wizard Ben, who was rumored to be in residence, instead they find his empty study and laboratory. Near by Quell finds the room containing a clearly operational negative energy machine. Channelling negative energy, clearly from a breach in the planar barrier. Their intel suggests this is the device that is powering the defensive aura of the compound, but still, Quell leaves it be for now. Remembering the hounds of Tindalos, the elf opts to not even enter the room and scurries away. Though, he did block what he thought was the door to the undead servants room. Just as a precaution.
With one section explored, the Knot came at it another way, this time going in force, the Knot tunnels through walls to were a isolated prison wing should be and once again, they turn out to be right as they burst into the back of a locked prison cell.
And then their intel finally let them down. Expecting a sealed prison wing with doors, Yvainne ghost forms into the hallway to find there is no door. And beyond are a squad of graveknight guards. They all turn up & look in unison at her.
Thinking fast she floats into the prison cell on the other side of the hall.
This goes on a couple times, the vampire in ghost form bouncing between rooms, dragging the confused graveknights further into the prison wing. Once the graveknights got all the way into the hall, then the Knot struck.
The rest of the Knot burst out of their prison cell, shrouded in a silence spell. This time having perfected their technique, they kept the silence forward and well clear of their casters. Allowing them to seal the hallway behind the squad of graveknights, insuring their fight didn't draw the attention of the near by guard room full of graveknights.
With a quite, isolated fight, the Knot makes short work of the gravenights. Even with the tight quarters, Quell has no problems tumblig around the undead warriors, while Emmerick simply smashes everything in sight with his mace.
With Brother Summit backing him up. And as Mardus, Wasyli & even Yvainne enjoys some blasts of magic.
The only slightly concerning moment is early in the fight, when the gravenights try to command Yvainne, but the priestess of death simply shrugs it off.
And faced with the combined might of the Ninth, the undead warriors died yet another time.
The Knot is wise enough to leave the armor around, soon they'd be the ones commanding the undead warriors, no reason to not let them rise again.
With the prison ward quietly secured, the Knot got to exploring their new claimed prize and found seemingly little of value. No angel prisoners, nobles, nothing, just one half-naked, body of a man who starved to death a year ago or more. And a quick speak with dead revealed he was a fur trapper from far away Farholde. Hardly the high valued target they were hoping to catch.
Still, having already spent the effort, they still tried to find out what information they could find from him.
And then they got a huge break, when the dead trapper explained how he was brought before Thorn.
Checking their intel and impromptu maps, the location everyone thought was the throne room wasn't the actual throne room. The Knot didn't need to say it. A trap.
Such a helper wasn't to be ignored. And Yvainne was feeling benevolent. The vampire death priest asked the trapper her last question. "What should be done with your remains?" The trapper asked them to be returned to his kin in Farholde, or at least buried somewhere outside in the pristine wilderness, not left to rot in the dank prison.
The Knot collected the remains before deciding where to go to next.
The Frost Giants moved in only to find themselves having to fight fire, and gravity reversing on them. Even the massive King had to grab hold of a pillar to not fly forty feet up and wobble, suspended in thin air.
With the stall tactics on the Frost Giants working, the Knot focused on the interloper astro-daemon. The creatures shifting form made it difficult for the Knot to target it, but still they unloaded on it with all they had to bear. Emmerick taking point with Yvainne backing him up. And others raining ranged attacked down on it.
Still, it wasn't enough. Then the King rushed forward. Forced to leap out of the reverse gravity field, he was unable to bring one target down with his full destructive might. Instead he made a massive cleaving attack. Emmerick staggered under it but instead of targeting Yvianne next, the astro-daemon was attacked. The King stopped in confusion as his blow went through thin air. The displacement of the creature saved it. And as the King stood confused, it in turn saved Yvianne from a blow she was sure to regret.
Emmerick & Yvianne stood in the breach, all the while the other ice giant guards fell under the blade and fist of Quell and Brother Summit.
In another round of blows the astro-daemon fell and the Knot turned back to their original target. Quell and Brother Summit got in their licks but it was Emmerick who showed the King of Frost Giants who was to be King of all of Talengarde.
Gripping his adamantine mace he hit one knee cap of the King causing the brute to stagger, then he swung around and hit the other knee, a sickening crunch resounded as the Giant fell to his knees. Quell managing to get in a outflank sneak-attack and as the King fell forward, the Anti-paladin twirled the mace back and leaping into the air he brought it down over the head of the giant. The massive mithril crown of the King of Frost Giants crunched under the blow, along with the tissue and skull underneath it.
There would be only one King in Talengarde.
Then, stepping out from a cloistered area further in the Cathedral was the Queen of the Frost Giants. With a low bow, the towering beauty introduced herself. It was clear a deal could be made with her and so the would-be King of Talengarde and his less than marry band, dealt.
After securing a blood oath from the Knot that the Queen would bend a knee to the Crown but retain all her lands and sit on the new King's counsel, she told the Knot everything she knew about the fortress they were in.
The Knot cataloged the extra intel and bid the Queen leave. Before she left, she healed up the Knot & buffed them for the dangers below. As she walked out, she scooped up the Mithril helm of her late King and exited the cathedral.
After she left, Emmerick heard a familiar voice in his head. His sword spoke to him. He listened.
Mardus & Wasyli were still studying the massive alter they just swore on. They were sure it was powerful, but unsure of how it worked. Then Emmerick strode up without a beat drawing the blade, gripping his bare hand and sliced. Mardus & Wasyli stood dumbfounded as Emmerick's blood dripped of the blade into the bowl on the alter. The blade shone brightly, the magic of blade and alter fused. And Emmerick smiled. And knew, if he spoke, the Prince of Hell would here. He had but to wish to commune with his dark god and it would be so.
Armed with their intel, the Knot send Quell in to scout an area expected to be lightly guarded & their intel pans out.
The elf is able to explore a section of the compound undisturbed. He spotted a large guard barrack and avoided it. The Knot's hope was to find the necromancer wizard Ben, who was rumored to be in residence, instead they find his empty study and laboratory. Near by Quell finds the room containing a clearly operational negative energy machine. Channelling negative energy, clearly from a breach in the planar barrier. Their intel suggests this is the device that is powering the defensive aura of the compound, but still, Quell leaves it be for now. Remembering the hounds of Tindalos, the elf opts to not even enter the room and scurries away. Though, he did block what he thought was the door to the undead servants room. Just as a precaution.
With one section explored, the Knot came at it another way, this time going in force, the Knot tunnels through walls to were a isolated prison wing should be and once again, they turn out to be right as they burst into the back of a locked prison cell.
And then their intel finally let them down. Expecting a sealed prison wing with doors, Yvainne ghost forms into the hallway to find there is no door. And beyond are a squad of graveknight guards. They all turn up & look in unison at her.
Thinking fast she floats into the prison cell on the other side of the hall.
This goes on a couple times, the vampire in ghost form bouncing between rooms, dragging the confused graveknights further into the prison wing. Once the graveknights got all the way into the hall, then the Knot struck.
The rest of the Knot burst out of their prison cell, shrouded in a silence spell. This time having perfected their technique, they kept the silence forward and well clear of their casters. Allowing them to seal the hallway behind the squad of graveknights, insuring their fight didn't draw the attention of the near by guard room full of graveknights.
With a quite, isolated fight, the Knot makes short work of the gravenights. Even with the tight quarters, Quell has no problems tumblig around the undead warriors, while Emmerick simply smashes everything in sight with his mace.
With Brother Summit backing him up. And as Mardus, Wasyli & even Yvainne enjoys some blasts of magic.
The only slightly concerning moment is early in the fight, when the gravenights try to command Yvainne, but the priestess of death simply shrugs it off.
And faced with the combined might of the Ninth, the undead warriors died yet another time.
The Knot is wise enough to leave the armor around, soon they'd be the ones commanding the undead warriors, no reason to not let them rise again.
With the prison ward quietly secured, the Knot got to exploring their new claimed prize and found seemingly little of value. No angel prisoners, nobles, nothing, just one half-naked, body of a man who starved to death a year ago or more. And a quick speak with dead revealed he was a fur trapper from far away Farholde. Hardly the high valued target they were hoping to catch.
Still, having already spent the effort, they still tried to find out what information they could find from him.
And then they got a huge break, when the dead trapper explained how he was brought before Thorn.
Checking their intel and impromptu maps, the location everyone thought was the throne room wasn't the actual throne room. The Knot didn't need to say it. A trap.
Such a helper wasn't to be ignored. And Yvainne was feeling benevolent. The vampire death priest asked the trapper her last question. "What should be done with your remains?" The trapper asked them to be returned to his kin in Farholde, or at least buried somewhere outside in the pristine wilderness, not left to rot in the dank prison.
The Knot collected the remains before deciding where to go to next.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Session 43
After much deliberation, the Knot resolved to get their own house in order. And that all revolved around eliminating Cardinal Thorn and seizing power of the Knots. The Paladin of Mitra and his hearty band would simply have to wait.
The Knot decides to bring a bigger squad. Their Ogre Magi and Medusa would accompany the 6 Knot members and their new Black Dragon. Even Trik would come along, to buff them before they attacked the fortress of their former master.
With so many members, Wasyli would be reduced to a teamster, having to use his teleportation magic to transport the large number of creatures into the frozen north. Faced with that prospect, the Knot decided to travel to the isolated area outside the cairn where they found Thorn's twisted phylactery heart.
Once there Wasyli shrouded them in a field of protection from divination, ensuring they'd not be bothered by any extra-planar visitors sent by their dear former master. What they got was extra-planar creatures from the area around them. Over a half-dozen angry elder earth elementals attacked the Knot as they rested.
The Knot was quick to react. The Black Dragon rushed forward to engage as the other followers bolted, getting clear from the massive mounds of earth.
Wasyli cast mass fly on the fellow members shooting out "To the skies!" As knot members jump up & start flying into the air with Wasyli dropping darkness and hiding in the shadows.
The massive earth elementals slam into the dragon, forcing it to flee away as the elementals rush into the Knot's camp, Wasyli floating barely out of the massive reach of the beasts.
Emmerick, still waking up doesn't bother to fly away, instead drawing Helbrand and gripping it in two hands, clearly disinterested in avoiding the fight.
The Elementals take an arcane beating from the Knot's casters before slamming into Emmerick as the anti-paladin somehow shrugs off the attacks without his plate armor.
The elementals have a harder time shrugging off Helbrand, the bastard sword cutting off huge hunks of rock as more magic reigns down on them.
Seeing Emmerick stand in place bolsters the courage of the other melee fighters of the Knot and they rush to his aid.
Despite initial concerns, the fight quickly turns into a slaughter and before Yvainne is even able to take the field the enemies of the Knot are nothing more than rubble on the already rocky ground. Yvainne gives a shrug and returns to her vampiric sleep with indifference as the rest of the Knot recover from the battle.
The Knot are able to resume their sleep and before long they are rested up & ready to find Thorn's lair.
Shrouded in the shadow walking spells of Wasyli and guided by the intelligence gathered from the Nameless Tyrant along with the keen survival skills of Brother Summit the Knot find themselves before an immense Cathedral, all alone and isolated. Clearly it was meant for a multitude of followers yet nerry a village was in sight. Even the bugbears and other intelligent creatures of the Savage North give this place a wide birth.
After a brief reconnoiter around the exterior of the massive cathedral determined the best approach was the massive double doors in the front. Quell did see a trap, and was greeted by an odd programmed image of Thorn asking them to leave behind his phylactery and leave. But the Knot simply ignored the image and Quell easily disabled the trap, leaving it ready to be rearmed later.
Remembering the information they received from the Horned Devil who betrayed Thorn, they readied for the likely Frost Giants who awaited them on the other side. They had Trik add some extra magical buffing before he Word of Recall'ed away leaving the Knot braced for the fight to come.
They busted open the doors to find a contingent of Frost Giants waiting for them, just as expected. In the hopes the diplomacy might work, Emmerick and Yvainne use their surprise to plead their case in a truly elegant fashion. In a way direct, blunt and yet somehow also polite, in a few words they manage to lay out the only logical course of action for the King and his clan.
The King gave his response with a growl and the brandishing of axes. Diplomacy would not work on this King, only battle was an option. So battle there was.
The forces of hell clashed, the Medusa and Ogre Magi took the flanks as the Knot surged forward as the Black Dragon breathed acid on the King. The King's axe fell hard on the Ninth, at one point Mardus pushed ahead of Quell and took a particularly savage blow, bending but not breaking. The elvan rogue was clearly quite grateful.
Then from behind, they arrived. An Astro-daemon with two odd looking insectoid like daemons that chittered in a truly horrifying way. The hideous astro-daemon brandishing a green crystal that the Knot immediately recognized. For they watched over it for the better part of a year. It was one of the eyes of Vitra-Kali. A fact that was removed from any doubt with the Astro-daemon made it's one sentence proclamation "Vitra-Kali sends his regards."
Yvainne acted before anything could happen and blasted the group with a powerful banishment spell. A spell she'd planned to have to use on a Devil not a Daemon, but it worked none-the-less, pushing back the two insectoid daemons before their feeblemind aura was able to destroy Wasyli and the other spell casters. Yvainne was rewarded with her bravery by a blast of negative energy from the Astro-daemon, the vampire actually enjoying the enervation array, much to the dislike of the Astro-daemon.
Still, stuck between the Astro-Daemon and an angry Frost Giant King, the Knot's flank's collapsed, the Medusa and Ogre Magi forced to flee before the might of Frost Giant foot-soldiers. All around the enemies of the Ninth surrounded them.
The Knot decides to bring a bigger squad. Their Ogre Magi and Medusa would accompany the 6 Knot members and their new Black Dragon. Even Trik would come along, to buff them before they attacked the fortress of their former master.
With so many members, Wasyli would be reduced to a teamster, having to use his teleportation magic to transport the large number of creatures into the frozen north. Faced with that prospect, the Knot decided to travel to the isolated area outside the cairn where they found Thorn's twisted phylactery heart.
Once there Wasyli shrouded them in a field of protection from divination, ensuring they'd not be bothered by any extra-planar visitors sent by their dear former master. What they got was extra-planar creatures from the area around them. Over a half-dozen angry elder earth elementals attacked the Knot as they rested.
The Knot was quick to react. The Black Dragon rushed forward to engage as the other followers bolted, getting clear from the massive mounds of earth.
Wasyli cast mass fly on the fellow members shooting out "To the skies!" As knot members jump up & start flying into the air with Wasyli dropping darkness and hiding in the shadows.
The massive earth elementals slam into the dragon, forcing it to flee away as the elementals rush into the Knot's camp, Wasyli floating barely out of the massive reach of the beasts.
Emmerick, still waking up doesn't bother to fly away, instead drawing Helbrand and gripping it in two hands, clearly disinterested in avoiding the fight.
The Elementals take an arcane beating from the Knot's casters before slamming into Emmerick as the anti-paladin somehow shrugs off the attacks without his plate armor.
The elementals have a harder time shrugging off Helbrand, the bastard sword cutting off huge hunks of rock as more magic reigns down on them.
Seeing Emmerick stand in place bolsters the courage of the other melee fighters of the Knot and they rush to his aid.
Despite initial concerns, the fight quickly turns into a slaughter and before Yvainne is even able to take the field the enemies of the Knot are nothing more than rubble on the already rocky ground. Yvainne gives a shrug and returns to her vampiric sleep with indifference as the rest of the Knot recover from the battle.
The Knot are able to resume their sleep and before long they are rested up & ready to find Thorn's lair.
Shrouded in the shadow walking spells of Wasyli and guided by the intelligence gathered from the Nameless Tyrant along with the keen survival skills of Brother Summit the Knot find themselves before an immense Cathedral, all alone and isolated. Clearly it was meant for a multitude of followers yet nerry a village was in sight. Even the bugbears and other intelligent creatures of the Savage North give this place a wide birth.
After a brief reconnoiter around the exterior of the massive cathedral determined the best approach was the massive double doors in the front. Quell did see a trap, and was greeted by an odd programmed image of Thorn asking them to leave behind his phylactery and leave. But the Knot simply ignored the image and Quell easily disabled the trap, leaving it ready to be rearmed later.
Remembering the information they received from the Horned Devil who betrayed Thorn, they readied for the likely Frost Giants who awaited them on the other side. They had Trik add some extra magical buffing before he Word of Recall'ed away leaving the Knot braced for the fight to come.
They busted open the doors to find a contingent of Frost Giants waiting for them, just as expected. In the hopes the diplomacy might work, Emmerick and Yvainne use their surprise to plead their case in a truly elegant fashion. In a way direct, blunt and yet somehow also polite, in a few words they manage to lay out the only logical course of action for the King and his clan.
The King gave his response with a growl and the brandishing of axes. Diplomacy would not work on this King, only battle was an option. So battle there was.
The forces of hell clashed, the Medusa and Ogre Magi took the flanks as the Knot surged forward as the Black Dragon breathed acid on the King. The King's axe fell hard on the Ninth, at one point Mardus pushed ahead of Quell and took a particularly savage blow, bending but not breaking. The elvan rogue was clearly quite grateful.
Then from behind, they arrived. An Astro-daemon with two odd looking insectoid like daemons that chittered in a truly horrifying way. The hideous astro-daemon brandishing a green crystal that the Knot immediately recognized. For they watched over it for the better part of a year. It was one of the eyes of Vitra-Kali. A fact that was removed from any doubt with the Astro-daemon made it's one sentence proclamation "Vitra-Kali sends his regards."
Yvainne acted before anything could happen and blasted the group with a powerful banishment spell. A spell she'd planned to have to use on a Devil not a Daemon, but it worked none-the-less, pushing back the two insectoid daemons before their feeblemind aura was able to destroy Wasyli and the other spell casters. Yvainne was rewarded with her bravery by a blast of negative energy from the Astro-daemon, the vampire actually enjoying the enervation array, much to the dislike of the Astro-daemon.
Still, stuck between the Astro-Daemon and an angry Frost Giant King, the Knot's flank's collapsed, the Medusa and Ogre Magi forced to flee before the might of Frost Giant foot-soldiers. All around the enemies of the Ninth surrounded them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)